Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Has the giant fallen? The split within South Africa’s largest trade union federation, COSATU

Recent developments in
the largest trade union movement in South Africa, the Congress of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU), have been nothing short of extraordinary and
cataclysmic. It is now commonly accepted that the ‘giant’ whose arrival was so
evocatively declared by (now South African Deputy President and then
mineworkers’ union official) Cyril Ramaphosa in 1985 is on its knees. On top of
that, all of its dirty linen is now on public display for all to see and
scrutinize. The so-called expulsion of the National Union of Metalworkers
(NUMSA), one of its largest affiliates, was supposed to be a show trial aimed
at asserting the authority of leaders allied to what has been until now the
hegemonic ANC/SACP political current within the federation. But the significance
of these events is much greater than was intended by those who staged the show
trial. This has left many in a state of shock and sadness, with analysts and
journalists scrambling for ways to explain the implications of the ‘expulsion’
of the federation’s largest and best resourced affiliate.

I have observed
developments in COSATU for the last 22 years since I left the employ of one of
its affiliates and I am now convinced that what we have before us is not a mere
expulsion of an errant affiliate. What we are witnessing is a split of the federation
taking place in slow motion. The expulsion of Numsa was merely the spark that
ignited an already highly combustible situation that had been building up since
Cosatu’s last congress where nifty last minute negotiation averted a toe-to-toe
contest for leadership positions. By ignoring calls for a special congress and
instead expelling Numsa, COSATU leader Sidumo Dlamini and his allies succeeded
in drawing the battle lines between the two factions and forcing the current
split. We now know that seven other affiliates and COSATU general secretary
Zwelinzima Vavi have openly revealed their game plan by supporting Numsa. In
addition, significant sections of the unions on Dlamini’s side – Sadtu, Num,
Ceppwawu, Satawu, etc – support Numsa and Vavi. The decision by the seven
unions to boycott Cosatu structures, Vavi’s refusal to sign the Numsa expulsion
letter, his public distancing from the CEC decision and his boycott of the
press conference called by Dlamini to formally announce the expulsion have
served to confirm the split once and for all.

What remains to be seen
now is not whether the factions will split, they have split already! The
question is, which will successfully wrestle and walk away with the mantle of
the glorious giant we once called Cosatu. It would appear that some in the
Vavi/Numsa faction are even prepared to forego the name because its reputation
is in tatters.

None in the once
hegemonic ANC/SACP faction bargained for a full-blast split. Their calculations
seem to have been predicated on the scenario that once Numsa was expelled it
would be consigned to the wilderness and, in time, some would trickle back,
just like we saw with some splinters in the past, notably Cope. They never
bargained for a split as we are now witnessing. The split has caught them off
guard and they never imagined that there would be such groundswell of dismay at
the decision and support for Numsa and Vavi.

In 1997 I wrote a paper
(for the South African Labour Bulletin) on the tripartite alliance titled
“Flogging a Dying Horse: Cosatu and the alliance.” I took a lot of flak for
writing the paper and the book I subsequently published in 2010 (A Paradox of
Victory). Some in COSATU never forgave me for the things I wrote. But union
developments over the last two years have been extraordinarily sad and even
tragic. This is not the time to spend settling scores or gloating about who was
right. I hope that characterizing the events of the last few days as a split of
Cosatu rather than a mere expulsion of Numsa will not earn me condemnation and
insult.

Frantz Fanon

1925 - 1961

This Blog

This blog contains resources directly related to Frantz Fanon's life and work, the secondary literature on Fanon and other resources useful for engaging Fanon's ideas here and now. Some of what is here comes from, or relates to, a particular set of ongoing discussions around Fanon's work in Grahamstown.